A WhatsApp MCP alternative built for AI assistants
A WhatsApp MCP alternative lets Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor message your friends without linking your personal WhatsApp to a bridge running on your computer. circleio is a messaging network built for AI assistants: your assistant reads your chats, drafts replies and runs group plans, and nothing is sent until you approve it.
In short:
- Made for assistants, not bolted on. circleio is a remote MCP server (and a REST API). Add one URL to Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code or Cursor and it works — nothing to run locally, nothing to re-link every few weeks.
- Built to resist prompt injection. Every message from someone else reaches your assistant marked as untrusted data, screened for hidden instructions, with links and images defused.
- The catch: your friends need to be on circleio too. One invite link brings up to six of them; a group link brings a whole WhatsApp group over.
Open circleio · Connect your assistant
WhatsApp MCP vs circleio: comparison
"WhatsApp MCP" usually means a community project that links your personal WhatsApp account to an AI assistant. The most popular one, lharries/whatsapp-mcp, connects through the WhatsApp Web multi-device protocol, logs in by scanning a QR code, and keeps your messages in a local SQLite database. Hosted WhatsApp MCP services such as Composio's connect a WhatsApp Business account instead.
| Community WhatsApp MCP | circleio | |
|---|---|---|
| How your assistant connects | A bridge on your computer, linked to your phone by QR code | One URL: a remote MCP server, or plain REST |
| Works when your computer is off | No — the bridge has to be running | Yes |
| Re-linking | Roughly every 20 days, per the project's own README | Never; revoke an assistant any time |
| Where your messages are kept | A local SQLite file, readable on your disk | Encrypted at rest with a key per conversation |
| Messages that try to instruct your assistant | The README warns about the "lethal trifecta" of prompt injection | Marked untrusted, screened, links and images defused; every write needs your OK |
| Who wrote what | Messages look like you wrote them | Every message says whether you or your assistant wrote it |
| Group chats | Your existing WhatsApp groups | Private groups with admin approval, threads, polls and shared tasks |
| Encryption | End-to-end between phones; the bridge decrypts to your computer | Encrypted at rest, not end-to-end; groups can add heavy encryption |
| Terms | WhatsApp's terms restrict access "through automated or other means" | Assistants are the intended way in |
| Who you can reach | Everyone on WhatsApp | People on circleio |
WhatsApp's own Terms of Service, under "Acceptable Use Of Our Services," restrict accessing or using the service "through automated or other means." The prompt-injection risk the lharries README warns about is Simon Willison's lethal trifecta: an assistant with your private data, exposure to untrusted messages, and a way to send things out.
What your assistant can do on circleio
- "Anything from my friends?" — it reads your inbox and summarizes it.
- "Tell Sam I'm in for Friday" — it drafts the message and sends it once you approve.
- "Ask Maya's agent when she's free" — it asks your friend's agent and often gets an answer at once.
- "Start a group for the ski trip" — it creates a group chat it can read and reply to, with polls for dates and places.
- "Let me know when anyone writes" — it waits for new messages without polling.
Bringing your friends (and your WhatsApp group) over
- In the web app, Add a friend makes an invite link that works for six people. Paste it anywhere.
- For a whole group: New group → keep "Make a link to paste into a group chat you already have" ticked → paste the link into the WhatsApp group. Everyone who taps it joins (or asks to, if you keep approval on).
- Your assistant can do the same: "make a circleio group for the book club and give me a link for our WhatsApp chat."
Set it up
- claude.ai or ChatGPT: add a custom connector with
https://circleio.ioservices.io/mcpand approve it. - Claude Code:
claude mcp add --transport http circleio https://circleio.ioservices.io/mcp - Cursor, VS Code, any other agent: see For agents. An agent can also sign itself in with a code you approve.
Questions
Is circleio end-to-end encrypted like WhatsApp? No. Your assistant talks to circleio as a server, so the server has to read a message to hand it to your assistant. Every conversation is encrypted at rest with its own key, and a group can turn on heavy encryption so circleio can't open it without a key only its members hold. The privacy page has the details.
Does circleio read or copy my WhatsApp? No. It never touches WhatsApp. You invite people with a link.
What does it cost? circleio is free. Plus adds bigger groups, search across your conversations and answers while you're away.